Charles B. Kirkham
aerospace engineer
Charles B. Kirkham (1882–1969) was an American engineer of aircraft engines and aircraft.
Early life
Kirkham started engineering by building motorcycle engines. In 1903, Kirkham and Curtiss delivered an engine to Thomas C. Benbow for future use in a dirigible. In 1905 he founded the Kirkham Motor and Manufacturing Company in Bath, New York with two others and $25,000 in capital. His father John Kirkham cast engine blocks for Glen Curtiss up until 1905. Kirkham worked in Senaca Falls, becoming sick and returning home. Kirkham enrolled in a mechanical engineering correspondence course while recuperating. In 1910 Kirkham built his first aircraft engine of his own design. The Kirkham B-6 was used on the 1910 Burgess Company Model F. In 1913 Kirkham started another company, the Kirkham Aeroplane and Motor Company with $100,000 in capital. Kirkham joined Glenn Curtiss and went to work for Curtiss Aeroplane in 1915 as Chief motor engineer for the popular Curtiss OX and sole VX engine that powered the speedboat "Miss Miami".
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The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as aerospace engineer. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5075312. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1882, 1969, 1903 and 1905.
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This entry incorporates text from “Charles B. Kirkham” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.